Until the Maruti Suzuki phenomenon happened in early 1980s, the Indian made Ambassadors and Fiats when ready for delivery to dealers showroom, these mint fresh vehicles used to be ‘motored’ down on the highways and by-lanes, irrespective of the dealer’s geographical location. Yes, by the time these brand new vehicles have reached the destination and handed over to the ultimate buyer/customer the vehicle had already travelled a certain amount of distance. That is, it was not ‘mint fresh’ in the strictest sense of the term.
But, the Maruti Suzuki advent changed all that. Every single buyer began to receive ‘mint fresh’ passenger cars in ‘mint fresh’ condition only, thanks to the concept of car carriers. By and large, passenger cars were transported on massive trucks – covered or open – from manufacturing facilities across the globe. In India, Suzuki ushered in the covered variety.
They come in various dimensions with a capacity to carry of five to 10 or even 11 small entry level cars such as the Maruti Alto, 800 or Tata Nano in a 22 metres horse-cum-tractor/trailer types. These car carriers, like any other vehicle have to be fabricated or built. Though a lot of these car carriers continue to be built on roadside, some fabricators such as Tippers & Trailers, Mercurio Pallia Autoworks, Seamless Autotech, HMM etc., got into it in a big way to cater to the growing Indian automobile market in the passenger car segment.
KVUL, a blue-blooded fabricator or provider of automotive solutions, is not found wanting. It roped in Turin-Italy-based Rolfo S.p.A as its joint venture partner to get into the car carrier fabrication business three years ago.
“We were the first in India to introduce hydraulic tailgate lifting,” claims Vice President (Operations) Shivam Arren – who incidentally also handles sales and marketing of the KVUL-Rolfo 50:50 joint venture. In this competitive segment, Kailash-Rolfo is trying to woo potential customers with a lot of incentives. Guarantee to repair its vehicles in the first year at all of its six plants, strategically located, free of cost. No such guarantee comes from road-side fabricators. Given the fact that the Italian partner is a niche player in the car carrying business back home and in Europe, Shivam boasts of the best practices and the best quality produce being sold in India as well. Of late, the joint venture has entered into the business of fabricating chassis carriers (truck-on-truck) as well.
Says Raghav Gupta, Managing Director, KVUL,: “At Kailash-Rolfo, we supply to the most progressive and most successful transport companies in India and now, many OEMs have started showing interest. The market has to evolve from a price-driven one into a value-driven one in order to further boost growth.”
Rolfo, the company’s JV partner is a European leader based out of Italy having experience of well over 120 years in the manufacture of a range of car/truck transport equipment as well as an extensive range of general cargo bodies, trailers/semi-trailers and isothermal bodies. With around 80 per cent of its turnover coming outside of Europe, from regions like Russia, Algeria, Uzbekistan, Kazakhastan, etc., the Italian manufacturer has invested in a JV in South Africa and Korea as well. Its Italian facility has an annual production capacity of around 2,000 car carriers while it currently produces around 1,100 units every year.
“We are very happy to have Rolfo as our partner for the last three years. The joint venture is ideally made with a good future ahead. In India, with manufacturers preferring zero-km driven cars and CVs to be delivered to showrooms, I see the car and CV carrier segment as a very good place to be in.” – Mr. Kailash Gupta, Chairman, KVUL
Well, it is not the first time KVUL has fallen in love with an Italian enterprise. Patented tarpaulin system is sold in India under technical collaboration with Cramaro of Italy again.